Yet another Missouri toddler sneaks into a claw machine game ... and has a ball
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Two toddlers climbed the same claw machine via its prize chute weeks apart.
- Supplier says older cabinets have larger chutes; newer models limit child entry.
- Operator brought the key to free the child; parents and responders laughed.
A 2-year-old Missouri boy named Cooper King found social media fame in February when he sneaked away from his mother and climbed inside a claw machine arcade game full of colorful plastic balls in suburban St. Louis.
“My brother’s in there!” Cooper’s big brother yelled excitedly when first responders arrived at the Vetta Sports Soccerdome in Webster Groves.
Their mother, Meg King, told reporters she looked away for “maybe 15 seconds” when she heard someone yell: “Cooper, your son is in the claw machine!”
Now, a few weeks later, another little boy has done it again, climbing into that very same claw machine.
“Patrick’s reaction ... someone took a picture of him and he’s like immediately just said ‘cheeeeese’ and posed for the camera, like unfazed he was stuck in a machine,” Patrick Campbell’s mother, Katie Campbell, told a St. Louis TV station.
Patrick told reporters: “I get ball.”
Both boys gained entry by climbing up through the toy chute on the front of the machine. Cooper shook his head and refused to retrace his steps when he was instructed to climb out.
Ziyad Kassim wasn’t surprised when he heard about Cooper’s escapade. Kassim is the CEO of Heartland Fun Amusement Supplier in Lawrence, who supplies claw machines and other arcade machines for businesses and rents them for public parties, corporate events, festivals and such.
He said he could tell from the viral photos of Cooper that the machine he, and eventually Patrick also, climbed into was an older model. Newer machines, like the ones Kassim supplies, are just built different.
“Just based off what I saw in the pictures that machine is probably 20 years old,” he said. “The way they make them now the cabinets are a lot smaller. Those prize chutes ... they will be a lot smaller to where a kid can’t really fit in there. The only thing that comes out is the prize.
“Just because I’ve been in this business, I wasn’t too stunned. I’ve had older machines before and I’ve had that issue.”
Claw machines actually are having a moment, said Kassim, who distributes arcade games across the country. “We’ve been placing them in these play cafes that are popping up, those have been pretty popular,” he said.
“I think honestly it has something to do with the Chinese influence. They’re very popular in China and that’s what’s bringing those kinds of games to the United States.”
Cooper and Patrick notwithstanding, “I would honestly say adults are playing these machines more than kids,” said Kassim. “It’s the adults playing, but the kids are watching.”
The new trend: Human claw machines where someone is suspended in a safety harness and lowered into the pit of prizes to scoop up what they can.
In January, Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino shared a video of his dad inside one of those machines at a Dave & Buster’s.
When Kassim supplies a claw machine for long-term or short-term use, he makes sure to leave with it a very important tool.
“All the places I put my machines I give them the key ... to unlock the door,” he said.
Cooper was freed when the vending machine company showed up with the key, but not before his mom fulfilled a request from the first responders.
“They were laughing, they were like ‘can we take a picture?’” she said. “I said yes of course. I’ve already sent this to my friends, my family.”
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